On Chain Emails

Skepticism can apply to all things really. It's about once a month I get some chain letter about a way to better my life, either with money or mysterious good luck, that requires a skeptical look. Getting this benefit always requires me to send the letter onto more people. I suppose there are two kinds of email like this. The first is about how I need to forward the letter, and the more people I who I send it too, the more good luck or whatnot I will receive within a period of time. The latest was about getting good Karma: “The mantra must leave your hands within 96 hours. You will get a very pleasant surprise.” If I search my memory, something pleasant will probably come to mind. Even if I haven't sent on the email. I'm not completely daft to the idea of Karma in a simplistic and philosophical sense. I understand that most people (westerners anyway) think of it as a way to treat people with respect. Or a way to laugh of misfortune. The actual philosophy of Karma is fairly frightening, besides having no scientific evidence to back it up. It claims that when bad things happen to you, it's a result of bad things you've done in this, or a previous life. This means that everyone that lost their lives in the Indian Ocean tsunami had it coming. This is an absurd and sad point of view of life. It's a horrific justification with zero evidence of it being true. But people often need a reason (not to be confused with reason). The idea that Earth is a volatile and random place is too much.

The second kind involves money. Either a way for me to make money, or a way to save money. I got this one recently as well:

“My name is Bill Palmer, founder of Applebee's. In an attempt to get our
name out to more people in the rural communities where we are not
currently located, we are offering a $50 gift certificate to anyone who
forwards this email to 9 of their friends. Just send this email to them
and you will receive an email back with a confirmation number to claim
your gift certificate.”

This is of course, also a lie. But what's more interesting here is that it took me all of three minutes to do the research required to know it's false! And I didn't even have to call the company. It's posted right in their Guest Relations FAQ (http://www.applebees.com/GuestFAQ.aspx?q=3)

“A fraudulent email chain message promising Applebee’s® gift certificates for forwarding the message is currently making its way around the Internet. The message promises a gift certificate and a confirmation number after forwarding the message to a specific number of email addresses. Applebee’s® International, Inc. does not sponsor or endorse this activity and is unable to fulfill these requests.”

It doesn't take much research to falsify these emails.

Update December 27, 2005:
A reader sent me a link to this site: Break The Chain! It contains general information about the harm chain letters can cause, even the "innocent" ones where you're just offering good will.